The Manipulation
by Ember Nickel
Summary: All the Animorphs have secrets to keep. But Marco seems even more secretive than normal, and his secrets hold promise-or peril. [Past Imperfect, Future Unknown 2018 gift for ChronicBookworm.]


My name is Rachel.

I'm a student. A pretty good one, actually. I won the Packard Foundation Outstanding Student Award a few months ago.

But it's hard to stay focused on school right now. Trying to save the planet from brain-stealing aliens can be kind of a distraction.

((Hey,)) a voice whispered in my brain. ((Wanna blow this pop stand?))

I instinctively looked to the sky for the figure of a red-tailed hawk. I've gotten pretty good at recognizing them since I kind of started dating one. (Another long story.)

A moment later, however, I realized that it hadn't been Tobias' voice I'd heard, but rather Marco's. Sure enough, there was an attentive-looking osprey perched on a flagpole.

I gave him a _I can't reply to you in thoughtspeak now, you dummy_ look, but he just flapped his wings. ((Be on the roof in five minutes if you're coming. It's not urgent.))

I didn't need much convincing to make my way to a dumpster behind the school, trying to blot out the scent of mystery meat as I became a seagull. My bird brain was more easily drawn to the empty soda cans nearby than an eagle would have been, but with my luck, as an eagle I'd have been spotted and become someone's impromptu biology project.

Marco didn't perch on the roof, merely taking off as I drew nearer. I followed without getting too close. ((Is this about Cassie?))

Cassie is my best friend. Well, was. It's not just that the war has brought out our differences—though it has—but she's also not human anymore, either. Another casualty of this stupid fight. Another person lost trying to look for peace.

((No,)) said Marco. ((I think—I don't think there's anything we can do for her right now.))

It surprised me how calm Marco was about the whole situation, even facing down a leopard to protect the Yeerk Cassie had made a deal with. I guess when you've fought Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, boring old Earth leopards don't instill a lot of fear.

((Then where are we going?))

((I don't know, thought we could steal some booze. Morphing should cure hangovers, right?))

((Ha-ha.))

((I actually wanted to go back to the construction site.))

((Trying to pick a fight with axe murderers?)) I teased, but I followed his angle as we headed toward the mall. ((Like we need any more danger in our lives?))

((To look for the blue box.))

((You think it's still there? The Yeerks wiped out the ship, right?))

((I mean, I don't think it's lying around in the open,)) he said. ((But better safe than sorry, right? If some random dude got their hands on it, they'd be a target.))

((And if the Yeerks somehow got it...Yeah,)) I said. ((Better than English literature any day.))

((You're not wrong.))

We touched down in a corner, amid the rubble. He demorphed first, then kept an eye on me. "You're not worried about being exposed?" I asked, as my mouth took shape.

"What do we have to worry about here?" he said. "You said it, the only people who come this way are axe murderers and stupid teenagers."

"And Andalite War-Princes," I noted. "Why do you think Elfangor even landed here? Wouldn't he be looking for somewhere a little, I don't know, grassier?"

"It was a crash landing," Marco snapped. "He didn't have a choice."

I let him be, and we picked our way among the debris, kicking piles here and overturning them there. At last Marco spotted a glimmer of blue; he dug a bit further, and there was the _Escafil_ device, still shining like it had when we first wandered through.

"Should we just bring this back to the barn?" he asked. "To keep it out of the way?"

"We don't exactly have an excuse to drop in on Cassie's barn at the moment," I pointed out.

He shook himself, as if trying to stay awake. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll just keep it in my room, I guess."

"Good choice," I said. "You're such a slob even the Yeerks wouldn't dig through there."

He gave a smile, half-forced, and we parted ways. It wasn't enough to stop me from worrying about Cassie, about the war, about all of us, but it did beat first period.

* * *

Cassie turned out to be okay. Well, not okay in the sense of calm and at ease with herself—I don't think any of us were that—but able to become human again, thanks to the science of caterpillars and butterflies. When she started to glaze over in the middle of Ax's speculations about how the process worked, I knew she was as normal as she was going to be.

Fortunately, the Yeerks seemed to be slowing down and taking stock of their position as well. Of course it wasn't going to last, it never did, and things came to a head when the summit was held nearby. "All the fancy beaches in the world," I griped, "and the politicians just have to visit here? What are they going to do, ride the roller coasters at The Gardens?"

"The Yeerks tried taking those over, too," Cassie helpfully reminded us.

"We're going to need to keep a close eye on them," said Marco. "Bug morphs, bird morphs, the works. It might even be worthwhile to acquire some of the security guards, if we need to tell people to move fast without yelling telepathically."

"We said we wouldn't morph humans if we could help it," Cassie pointed out. "You wouldn't clone someone without their permission; can we steal their DNA?"

"Ax made a composite of us, whatever you call it, the _Frolis_. And he acquired Jake when we were starving the Yeerk out."

"That was an emergency," Jake said. "If it comes to that, sure, but I don't think any of us will be able to stay at the summit for three days."

"We don't know what it will come to," said Marco. "In fact—"

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, slouching back on a bale of hay.

"Come on," I said. In my experience as an Animorph, "nothing" turned out to be "something" an annoying fraction of the time.

"I was just thinking, it might be good to get more comfortable morphing humans. In case—in case we need to acquire the president and those guys."

((Acquire the _president_?)) Tobias blurted. ((I think our lives are busy enough without trying to joyride Air Force One.))

"We can't keep playing defense forever," said Marco. "If the Andalites come and save our rear ends, great, but after..." He trailed off, squinting. "After that traitor on Leera and all the nonsense with Seerow's Kindness, can we count on them? We have to be ready in case things escalate here."

"And impersonating heads of state is the way to do that?" Cassie said. "We're kids! What do we know about pushing armies around?"

"When it comes to the Yeerks? As much as anyone."

"Okay, okay, let's step back," said Jake. "We don't want to bite off more than we can chew. But Marco is right that we need to be flexible—if something comes up that we can't deal with in the morphs we have, we should be ready to reconsider. Until then, let's not get in over our heads. Sound fair?"

((Of course, Prince Jake,)) Ax said.

"Don't say yes for the sake of it. I want to know what you think."

"The morphing technology was designed for stealth, right?" Marco asked. "You guys have nice tailblades and stuff that we don't. You're saying you never disguised yourself as a Controller?"

((I was—am—only an _aristh_. There is much of battle that I don't know.))

"The princes, Elfangor, anyone?"

((There was much Elfangor did not tell me of his experiences in war.))

"Yeah," said Marco, "sounds right."

"I agree with Jake," said Cassie. "One day at a time."

* * *

I wouldn't say I've lost my ability to be shocked over these last few months, but it definitely takes more than usual to faze any of us after the stuff we've seen. Trying to process the fact that Elfangor was Tobias' father was...weird, to say the least, but eventually I gave up trying to wonder how that would even work. What mattered was being there for Tobias—giving him another link to the fight, to the human world, as he worked through another betrayal by Visser Three and came to terms with his role on the team. That, I knew how to do.

Still I couldn't help but be curious, especially when I had nothing better to do. We were flies following the scent of the Visser, infiltrating his Blade Ship to check out the Yeerk facility that Erek had warned us about. It was a boring trip even without Marco's attempts at humor to enliven it, although he had been quieter than usual the past few weeks.

((So, Ax,)) I asked. ((Did the Andalites ever send missions to Earth? Before you, I mean.))

((Not that I am aware of,)) he said. ((Perhaps something highly classified, but I was briefed that we would be encountering a new species.))

((How do you think Elfangor got here? The first time?))

((Has to have been some Ellimist nonsense,)) said Tobias. ((I mean, that's why he was yanked away, right? Maybe he brought him here the first time.))

((Why would he do that?)) Cassie asked. ((He says he can't interfere too much.))

((Wouldn't be the first time he'd jerked people around for no apparent reason,)) Jake pointed out.

((I suppose it could have been a _Sario Rip_,)) Ax suggested.

((Right,)) I said. I'm not sure why I went along with it. Maybe it was the excruciating boredom. It probably wasn't the fly brain, there aren't a lot of higher-level instincts there. ((Because the only place less cool than the dinosaurs' era was when our parents were in school.))

((There are legends of devices that let one travel through time,)) said Ax. ((I would like to be in a more peaceful era of Earth's history. Then I could enjoy all the outstanding flavors your species has pioneered without the duties of war.))

((Are you insane?)) Marco said.

((Yes, Marco,)) I replied on cue. ((We're all insane, I'm the one who volunteered to turn into a bug to spy on the Yeerks' express ship to who-knows-where.))

((We already knew you were crazy,)) said Marco. ((But Ax, you can't just take a time machine to the past and joyride. What if you changed history by eating the wrong Cinnabon?))

((Some of those legends invoked a self-consistency principle...))

((Andalite mythology class must be really boring,)) said Cassie.

((I mean you'd really have to plan it out. Don't joke about that kind of thing,)) Marco said.

((Don't _joke_ about that kind of thing?)) I blurted. ((Who are you and what have you done with Marco?))

For a moment he was silent, and I had a flicker of panic. What if a Yeerk had captured him and this was a Controller sneering at us? I told myself it didn't matter, a Yeerk wouldn't have let us get this far in the middle of nowhere, and even if they did, we were probably already screwed so what did it matter.

((It's a long story,)) he finally said. ((I'll tell you some other time.))

* * *

I've sacrificed a lot in this war. Time and sleep and peace of mind, yes. But also my qualms about killing. My ability to be truthful to my family.

And, most recently, my hair.

The Iskoort were weird. Okay, none of the aliens we've come across have looked like the little green dudes you see in cartoons. But these guys built castles—megamalls, really—in the air with no regard for safety codes. One slip and we'd be dead meat well before the Howlers got to us.

Like the other Iskoort we'd met, Guide was shaped roughly like an accordion with eyestalks. And even more so than the others, he was desperate to haggle with us.

((Your memories,)) he said. You will not lose them! ((Only share a copy with us, so we might display them to view.))

"Nope," said Marco.

((He's right,)) said Tobias. ((This could get back to the Yeerks.))

"Ax, do you know where we are?" Jake asked. "How long would it take the Yeerks to reach this planet?"

Guide opened a star chart, and Ax and Erek manipulated it to display the galaxy. ((I cannot say with certainty,)) said Ax. ((The changing waves of Z-Space alteration make it difficult to say. But I find it extremely improbable that the Yeerks would reach this planet without having conquered both Earth and the Andalite homeworld.))

"Okay," said Jake. "In that case—"

"_No_," said Marco, sharply. "I am not giving my memories to a completely alien species on a planet I've never heard of."

"Do you have a counter-offer?" Erek asked.

"As it happens," Marco said, "I do."

Instinctively, we turned to look at him. Only Guide seemed unsurprised by this; I guess surprise new bargains are just part of life on the Iskoort world.

Marco reached for his backpack, and pulled out the _Escafil_ device. "Do you know what this is?"

((An archaic Z-Space transponder?)) Guide wondered. ((Or perhaps a sensory augmentation?))

"Not quite," said Marco. "It's a piece of technology that gives us the power to morph. Like you saw in a battle. Imagine, instead of just seeing other species' memories, _being_ them. Flying through the air, swimming through the sea."

"Marco..." Jake began, anxious.

"You heard Ax," said Marco. "The Yeerks aren't coming out here any time soon."

"You just happened to bring the blue box to school today?" I asked.

Marco shrugged. "And Guide, if you let me touch you to acquire your DNA—Isk and Yoort—I'll return the favor. I'm considered a _very_ attractive human by Earth standards."

Guide thought it over for a brief moment. ((You have a deal.))

There was none of the fear or shock that had accompanied us when Elfangor gave us the morphing power: just a brief handshake as Marco took Guide's hand and placed it on the box.

"To acquire an animal," Marco said, "you just have to touch them and concentrate on them for a moment. They'll kind of glaze over as you absorb their DNA. Then you can morph them by focusing. But you can't stay in morph for any more than two hours—otherwise you'll be trapped."

((Hours?)) Guide echoed.

((A human unit of time,)) said Ax, then rattled off something I didn't understand. It must have made sense to Guide, though, because he acquired Marco a moment later.

"Okay," said Marco, after he'd acquired Guide. "When you go to feed, remember I want to acquire the Yoort as well."

((Yes, yes,)) said Guide.

"Feeding?" I asked. "Yoorts?"

"The Iskoort are complicated," Marco said.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed."

((Are you saying you are familiar with this species?)) Ax asked. ((We did not encounter them in school.))

"Sure," said Marco, "read about them in my dad's World Book encyclopedias. Can we get at those Howler memories now?"

((I will transfer them to the Chee,)) said Guide.

"Don't try to change the subject," said Jake, as Guide and Erek stepped away to begin setup. "What are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Marco said.

"Right," I said. "We're asking an accordion guy from Legoland to transfer the memories of another species into our android friend, so that we can maybe save his people, before some blue glowy dude yanks us back to Earth where we're the only thing preventing humanity to be taken over by alien slugs. I think I can handle whatever it is you have to say."

Marco exhaled. "I'm not who you think I am. I know things—have seen things I shouldn't."

((Yeerk!)) Ax said, immediately flashing his tailblade forward.

Marco raised his hands. "Whoa. No, it's just me, just Marco. But I'm from the future."

((The future?)) Tobias said. ((How far? You still look like a kid.))

"Far enough," said Marco. "That I should have facial hair, even if I'm no taller. I don't know how I wound up back—inside myself, I guess. There can't be two of the Time Matrix in the same place, I guess there can't be two of me either."

((The Time Matrix?)) Ax said. ((I thought that was a myth.))

"Apparently not. It was in the construction site all along."

"You survived to the future?" Jake said. "Do we win?"

"Yeah. Mostly. But it was—bad, for everyone. Some more than others." He glanced around, not meeting our eyes. "I don't know how much I can change, without screwing the future up too badly. But...I had to do something."

"You can tell us. We'll help you figure it out."

"Some of it, a lot of it, you don't want to know," he said. "But it will help not have to keep lying to you. I was going crazy."

"Can you tell us how we get out of _this_ mess?" I asked.

"Well, we're gonna see in a minute, but the Howlers have collective memory. We can use that to our advantage. And if we're able to get close enough, we should acquire some while we're here. Tap into the memory pool—and maybe run rampant back home, too."

"Will the instincts overwhelm us?" Cassie asked. "Nobody deserves what happened to the Pemalites. Not even the Yeerks."

"I don't think so. But we'll need to be careful."

"What about the Iskoort?" I said. "You knew about them...because you'd remembered? From before?"

"Yeah," said Marco. "They're symbiotes. Isk, like host bodies, and the Yoort—they're related to the Yeerks. But they don't enslave people; they created a species that they need, to live together with."

"Oh." Jake breathed in, sharply. "That's why the Ellimist wants us here, isn't it? To show the Yeerks that there can be a better way."

"Exactly," said Marco. "If we take this DNA back to Earth, maybe we'll get a chance to show them."

I shook my head. "It's a wonder you aren't crazier."

He looked up at me, scheming, but with a quiet smile. "Rachel, do you have a minute?"

"Yeah," I said.

We stepped away from the others for a moment, and for a moment I was afraid what he was going to tell me. Had I lived, in this future he knew? Or been so overcome by bloodlust that I was no longer myself? Maybe he sensed my worry, because he said, "We'll change it. All of it."

"Okay."

"Here, Iskoort, the first time—Jake almost died. He got separated from us, and he thought we were dead too. Obviously, we don't want that to happen this time."

"Of course."

"_But_, when he and Cassie found each other again, they were so happy that they kissed."

_"Finally!"_ I whispered.

"Yeah. So if they keep beating around the bush after we change whatever here, you're gonna have to help me move things along, okay? I mean, the tension's been killing me in _both_ timelines."

I grinned as we walked back to rejoin the others. "You can count on me."


End file.
